I have recently dusted off my 64 after a decade of living in a cardboard box. Had a few issues at the start getting it to fire up and saw somewhere that a quick wipe of the chip with an alcohol solution may get the games to work (as I was already getting power to the unit) this seemed to work but I've noticed as the chip dries off it becomes less readable, my question is has anyone else dealt with this and is there maybe some sort of silicon spray that maybe I should use to possibly keep the game in better working order. Any advice is muchly appreciated. Thank you Chris.

I just blow in mine before putting them in. Alcohol is good for when I buy a used game and it's kinda dirty, or if it's a particularly stubborn cartridge, but even after cleaning them I still usually have to blow in it a little bit before putting it in. But as far as getting it to work first time every time without blowing, I can't think of any way. Some have suggested cleaning the system itself, but that didn't do much for me when I tried it.

Also, I know there are people who swear against blowing in cartridges, but after all these years I've never known anyone who messed up their cartridges because they blew in them. And some people say blowing is a placebo and it's the inserting and removing of the cartridge that makes it work, but simply inserting and removing it without blowing never works for me, so I don't believe that.

@Whitey85@ReaderRagfish Blowing into a cartridge can work, but it's a short-term solution. All experts/professionals agree that it's a bad practice, due to the contacts often consisting of some kind of copper or copper mixture, and breathing/blowing on them, results in speeding up the corrosion effect.

Pure alcohol is indeed the solution, due to it's evaporating qualities, which means it can both be VERY cleansing, and yet not reside on the copper contacts long enough to cause the same amount of damage that any water-based liquid or substance (which includes human breath) would do.

Further more, completely taking the system apart, and dry blowing or brushing it clean, should take care of most of the issues. And with dry blowing, I don't mean with a hair dryer, but with cold air, simply to remove dust and dirt particles.

All of that should work both on the cartridges, as well as on the console itself. And storing the console and the cartridges in a dust free place, such as in a carry bag/case, is also recommended.

I also have my N64 stored in a carry bag, and it still works like a charm, as do all of my game cartridges.
Here's what I use to store them in:

'The console wars are like boobs. Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

@Whitey85 P.S.
Don't EVER use silicon spray: that is a major dust attractor, so it will only make things worse, for any cartridge-based console. Silicon spray works miracles on moving parts in machinery, but isn't meant for stationary contacts, contrary to popular belief.

'The console wars are like boobs. Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

@ReaderRagfish Unscrewed all the parts, brushed them with a soft brush to get the bigger dirt and dust particles off, then dry blowed them with a compressed-air can, cleaned the contacts with a cotton tip, soaked in pure alcohol, allowed for it to evaporate, did some extra drying/polishing with a dry fiber cloth, and for the cartridges, I just cleaned the contacts with alcohol.

Take care to not hold the cartridges with the contacts pointing up, otherwise the alcohol will seep into the cartridge, so keep 'em sideways. Alternatively, you can open them up and then clean the contacts, but I didn't do that, and ultimately, the goal is to get everything working smoothly again, which is what happened.

And storing your consoles in a dark, preferably dry place, inside its own container/carry bag is also highly recommendable.

@ThanosReXXX Ok, I'll have to give it another shot. And my N64 isn't dirty on the outside at all, I got it new back in the day and have kept it pretty clean. Nowadays I keep all my cartridges in a box, with the contacts face down.

@ReaderRagfish I wasn't talking about the outside. It being dirty on the outside, shouldn't have any negative effect on it being able to run games. But even with decent care, dust and dirt will build up inside the console.

'The console wars are like boobs. Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

@ReaderRagfish Take a bamboo skewer and run it along the groove of the controller, you'll be surprised how much dust, dirt and other stuff builds up in those after all those years! And like @ThanosReXXX said, make sure to check the inside, any console that hasn't been opened after all these years is probably filled with dust.

The cotton buds I use for the contacts are the smaller ones, not the fat ones:

@ReaderRagfish Take a bamboo skewer and run it along the groove of the controller, you'll be surprised how much dust, dirt and other stuff builds up in those after all those years!

Yes, this is a huuuuge thing. Man those things get gross (especially if they're originals, because the protective clear coat has worn down and the surface goes from resistance to a filth magnet). Humans are gross.

@HobbitGamer Nothing much gross about it. Just dead skin cells, dust and body oil mixed together, making that brownish goo, that seeps into all nooks and crannies on the sides of the controllers, in between the seems where the two halves connect...

As for any coating: far as I know, N64 controllers were simply molded in single colors, and there is no extra coating applied to them. But even with a coating or even a naturally smooth or shiny surface, you would still never be able to prevent build up of grime in those seems. Just look at how dirty the seems of Wii remotes get.

Well, at least: if you don't use those silicon sleeves that they come with. Which most people actually DID never use, which ultimately resulted in all those funny Wii remote accidents...

Only modern controllers have a coating, but that's a rubberized one, most of the time. So that isn't exactly dirt-repellent either.

'The console wars are like boobs. Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'